


Twist Of Fate: Hidden Loves In A Small Village.

by flickawhip



Series: Hidden Loves In A Small Village [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 23:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9147352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickawhip/pseuds/flickawhip
Summary: Part of NaNoWriMo 2016. I decided against trying to publish this one so I'm putting it here.





	1. The Accident.

Plans have a habit of going wrong. Danielle knows this even as she brings her friends to see what she is doing, there are only the three of them. Danielle herself, a tall, sure-footed young woman, stubborn and bright but also determined to do her best at all times, Carina, who lives in fear of losing her fiancée to another person and Willow, a bright nursing student who had fallen quite impossibly into friendship with Danielle.   
The work Danielle was doing, a determined work of writing and research on what it was to be a war widow, had ground to a halt. She was frustrated, living at home in Bunbury was a joy and yet, the village was small, cramped even. She was glad that both Willow and Carina had moved to Bunbury with her, although neither seemed to know why they had come.   
As her friends looked over her work Danielle was preparing herself as she usually did, leaving both women alone even as she moves to dress herself behind a screen, she had found, early on in her work, that dressing in vintage, war-time clothes, helped her focus, she was applying make-up, a simple layer of lipstick, when things began to change.   
“Dani....”  
The call from her friends had caught her attention and she hurried to step into her shoes, tying a simple scarf at her neck, the belt still undone around her waist even as she dumped her rollers and moved to answer the call.   
“What did you do?”  
Danielle’s voice was soft, but firm, seeking answers. Carina had shrugged, wordless, Willow speaking softly, a little nervously.  
“We were trying to turn the light up...”  
“What did you touch... quickly....”  
Even as Willow moved to show her, the world twisted out from under them, leaving them to fall through time.   
By the time the world stopped spinning, they had ended up somewhere new. Well, new to them. They had followed Danielle’s work into the past, to the time of the second world war. The one good thing was they were still in Bunbury, although Carina was drawing quite a few looks given her outfit of a bright red mini-dress and heels.   
Danielle had looked around once she was able to stand herself back up, her voice soft, almost awe-struck.   
“We... are in the past...”  
She had heard so many stories of her uncle working on a time-portal, although she had not believed him but, now... now she did, she had to, they were, after all back in time. Her house had vanished, leaving them in the middle of a busy street.   
“That’s... not possible.”  
Carina sounded both nervous and a little excited.   
“Is it?”  
“I’d normally agree Carina but... look around you.”  
Willow spoke softly, unable to hide her amusement, glad that, for once, she had listened when Danielle suggested she ‘dress for the occasion’. Carina would continue to draw stares even as they began to attempt to find a way to settle in... and find a place to live and work.


	2. Settling In.

Danielle, as was often the case, took the lead, her hand slipping warmly into Carina’s own, squeezing gently to bring some reassurance. Willow seemed quite unsure if it was all real, but unlike Carina she was willing to follow what Danielle suggested had happened, at least until it was proven wrong. She could only hope that they would somehow settle in.   
They had, after a small discussion, in which Danielle once again laid their plans out best, agreed that they needed to find a place to live and somewhere to get Carina some new clothing before they attempted to find work.   
Carina seemed content to let Danielle lead her, at least until she knew the place a little better, until she could be sure that, even if they acted as they usually did, they would be okay. She knew enough from listening to Danielle that, even if she wasn’t sure of her sexuality, it would not be good to be found out as a woman who preferred women. Danielle seemed oddly calm on that matter, although Carina knew that, soon enough, she would probably find herself struggling with it, if they had indeed found a place of virtue and not, as Danielle had thought, a place that hid women who preferred one another’s company. Willow too seemed self-assured, although Carina knew that Willow was more than content to stick to Danielle, at least for now. Relationship drama could, after all wait, they needed to find a home, and jobs... and she would need some new clothes... they all would if they lived here long enough.   
Carina had been the first priority, Danielle smirking a little teasingly when the tailor sized the girl up, then selected several dresses for her. Carina seemed drawn to the softer green dress, although she had, on the woman’s suggestion, allowed herself to be tempted into buying working clothes. Danielle too selected some ‘work clothing’ just in case it was needed. Willow had seemed determined to stick with what she had and so they had paid, quickly and quietly, before asking for directions to the nearest place to find a home.   
It seemed that there was scarcely any homes for sale and so the three had become aware they may yet need to look for jobs with lodgings, whilst they may be lucky enough to live in, they might not all be together. The war had broken many houses and families and so they would have to settle where they could find rooms.   
Willow had been the first to split from the group, headed for the Doctor in the village, she had, smartly enough, asked for directions from someone earlier and now she knocked on the door. She would do what she had to, and she would find her way into their good graces. She was met by not only two doctors but a nurse. The nurse, oddly, seemed a little shy, hanging back enough that Willow found herself slightly charmed by it. The woman was nearly her polar opposite, where she was slim with curves, the woman was thin with no curves at all, where she was gifted with bright blue eyes, the woman was dark eyed, an alluring mix of brown-blue-green shades that seemed to shift as she watched them, where she had blonde hair, the other woman was brunette. All the same she knew she would work to befriend the woman. She had, eventually, asked the woman’s name, smiling when the reply came of ‘Rebecca’, the name nearly whispered.   
As Willow watched the two doctors converse, even as they considered hiring her, she had told them why she was there nearly instantly, and admitted she would need a room in the house, she knew something was going on. Suzannah, as the woman had introduced herself, was warm and bright eyed although her eyes were a dark brown and her hair a short-cropped brown tangled mess, although her eyes had noticeably dimmed as she talked to Savannah. Savannah, seemed less sure about hiring the woman, although she had still made quite the impact on Willow with her bright hazel brown eyes and slightly less tangled curl of blonde-brown hair, the marks of a mixed family heritage, although she had not yet talked to the woman.   
Eventually an agreement was made, Willow would live in the same room as Rebecca, using the spare bed. The two doctors would sleep separately and Willow would be given a work trial. Despite being separated from her friends, at least for now, Willow couldn’t help but feel a little proud. She had found a room and a job.   
As Willow was finding her job, and settling into her new room, glad that she had brought little with her, her two friends, Carina and Danielle, were hard pushed to find work.   
They had tried many places before Carina suddenly stopped, needing to have a moment of air before they pushed on, Danielle looking back with slight worry. It wouldn’t help any of them if Carina fainted before they found a job. They had no money yet and so needed to impress someone enough to find rooms with them.   
It had been Carina, who spotting a job advertised in a window, had lead them into the main general store, a small shop but one that had incorporated both a bakery and a butcher’s shop along the way. It seemed that the man who had died at war, commemorated on the war memorial, had married the woman in the shop and left her with his bakery and butcher’s business as well as her father’s general store for the sale of food.   
Carina had, surprisingly, been the one to approach the woman, allowing Danielle time to look them both over. Carina surprisingly suited the dark green dress she now wore, her light curls seeming to flatter her pale skin and dark hair, she felt sure that the girl’s bewitching green-brown shaded eyes, eyes that sometimes had a pale hint of blue, were working wonders on the woman she could see more clearly.   
Marian Cole, as Danielle expected the woman was called, it was the name over the door after all, seemed a kind woman, bright blue eyes with mixed shades of grey and brown seemed fixed on Carina, a slight, sweet smile pulling at the woman’s lips as they talked. The woman’s hair, a russet red mixed with pale blonde turning the shade somewhat copper-blonde shaded where she had been out in the sun, flattered her and Danielle found she smiled as she watched the woman. There were hints of shyness, of a timid nature there and yet Danielle had been sure the woman was sweetly trusting Carina... Carina had a way with shy women, perhaps because Carina herself could be a little shy.   
She had smiled as she joined Carina, beckoned closer at the last. She was offered a chance to help with the butchery, although she would need to find a supplementary job as it would not be full time. Carina would be staying in the woman’s free room, a move that slightly surprised Danielle, although she agreed easily enough.   
Danielle was walking alone now, following advice from the woman, Marian, she had been right on that, and heading toward the nearest farm, where a woman lived alone, although she had plenty of land-girls and farmgirls to help with her crops. Marian seemed sure that this woman, Julie, would welcome another set of hands.   
She had approached the lone woman not in the fields but, at least she seemed to be, talking to her chickens.   
“Excuse me Miss... Are you Julie... Julie Bryant?”  
“I may be... who are you?”  
There was a weary tone to the woman’s voice and she seemed vastly withdrawn, refusing to say much. Despite her somewhat guarded air, Danielle could see the woman was at least faintly attractive.   
“Danielle Carter, Miss... I was lead to believe you may need a hand with your farm?”  
“I’ve plenty of girls... so no.”  
Julie finally turned from her chicken, surprisingly bright ice-blue eyes meeting Danielle’s own muddy hazel brown eyes, the tangled snarls of hair not once detracting from her beauty. The woman was rude, but still Danielle knew she would do her very best to befriend this woman, even if she failed.   
“I may be of no use in your fields Miss Bryant, but I find it hard to believe you have no need for someone, even for company?”  
Before Julie could reply, much to Danielle’s relief, two of her workers approached.   
“We’ve finished the scything Julie.... Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had a friend comin’... Pardon us Miss...”  
“Oh, no... I’m not... not a friend... at least not yet... I was hoping to work on the land... or at least convince your boss here to lend me a room for a few nights...”  
“Workin’ here... you must have a deathwish... I’m Henna, Hen to my friends...”  
A pause, in which both women eyed each other up, Danielle finding herself smiling slightly. The girl in front of her was shorter than her, but a near perfect height for ‘friendly’ games. Hen had bright glossy brown hair and brighter brown eyes, a playful curve to her lips telling Danielle that ‘Hen’ had many friends.   
“Danielle, Dani... Who’s your friend?”  
“None of your business...”  
Julie cut them both off before they could continue, shooting Henna a warning look. Henna had ignored her somewhat cheerfully.   
“Ah, c’mon Jules, lighten up... That’s Karen, she’s a little shy...”  
Danielle had smiled, then, speaking gently, looked the girl over as she introduced herself.   
“A pleasure to meet you Miss Karen... I’m Danielle.”  
The girl had blushed slightly, bringing a soft smirk to Danielle’s lips where her smile had since faded. There was something softly charming about Karen. The tangle of blue-grey and hazel in her eyes softened them and her long, slightly curling, chocolate brown hair was gentle against her pale skin, proving that Henna and Karen were friends, but not related. Karen’s near porcelain skin seemed to deflect the sun and envelop her in a beam of sunlight.   
“Get off my land...”  
Julie, again broke the moment, softening only when Karen, still silent, stepped forward to extend a hand to Danielle, Danielle smiling even as she lightly kissed the girl’s knuckles, praying silently that she had read the situation correctly. Henna had smiled, nodding silently from where she stood.   
Julie, still frowning and clearly not pleased, had sighed as she gave in.   
“Very well, since Karen seems to like you, you can have a work trial... and share the room with the girls.”  
She had walked away then, leaving Danielle to talk a little more with both Henna and Karen as she let them lead her to her rooms.


	3. The Village Secret.

None of the three women who had fallen through time had put much thought into why Bunbury had proven so remarkably calm about the arrival of three new women. Most towns, especially in wartime, would have questioned where they came from.   
Soon enough they would find out why it was there were only women here, and why it was that they had been, for the most part, welcomed openly. There was only really Julie who seemed unimpressed by them, and as Danielle had learnt since arriving, it was less that Julie suspected they were a danger, more that she never really liked to let herself trust someone who didn’t know the village secret and swear to keep it. Danielle, however, still had no clue of the secret, that would be shared later, when the ladies of the village gathered for the weekly WI meeting.   
It seemed as if the ladies of the town all knew the secret, and, although there were many in the town who had been married, and were indeed straight, they kept the secret for the good of family and friends who may not have been entirely straight. Where most villages would have frowned on such things, Bunbury had made itself a village for the undesirable women of other towns and villages to settle, to find love and to live in peace.   
It was at the WI meeting that the new women of the village, Danielle, Carina and Willow, learnt the truth. It was also at the WI meeting that they swore to keep the secret for as long as they lived in the village. Since it seemed unlikely any of them would find their way back to the time they had lived in before, they had agreed, almost willingly.   
The WI meeting went on longer than usual, although the needed minutes stopped half-way into the meeting as the rest of the time was spent allowing Carina, Danielle and Willow to get to know the women they had not yet met. Carina and Danielle met Willow’s housemates and co-workers, Willow met both Marian and Julie as well as the land-girls.   
The three of them would later meet many more women, of all shapes and sizes, although as time passed they began to know who would be around them more often. The women who loved women, some were of course bisexual and had been blessed with the safety of marriage before the war, others had been a ‘life-long shame’ to their families for loving only women.   
Among the women they began to learn more about were Marian, Julie, the landgirls and Marian’s workers, Danielle finding herself smiling when she met Elizabeth Foster, a girl who worked with Marian and Carina in the general food shop and seemed more than willing to talk to them all.   
Elizabeth, known to many in the village as either Lib or Libby, had bright blue eyes, long and mussed curly blonde hair that fell to shoulder-length and something of a passion for dressing a little naughtily for the era, she didn’t seem to mind much what people thought.   
Later they had met Bea Forrest, a woman with hair the colour of sand which fell to her shoulders, trimmed for neatness alone, and hazel brown eyes. Bea was friendly when confident, as she was at the WI meeting, although she confessed that she had a fear of being known in the street, as she never knew if it was kindness or rudeness that lead people to point her out.   
Once Bea had left her sister had come over to introduce herself, Sally Hawkes had hair like spun gold which, like her sister’s, fell to her shoulders, and blue-green eyes the colour of the sea. She had been working on Julie’s land when Danielle joined their workforce and, as she was shy, tended to avoid her, now, knowing that Danielle would not judge, she had come to introduce herself.   
Sally had returned to them later with Ellie Sims, another farm worker who was a little shy. Ellie was a tall, slim woman with copper hair and bright blue-green eyes, she was always a little nervous, she admitted, and tended to prefer to stick to women she knew to talk to... among other things. As time passed Ellie began to relax. She had admitted she was not much one for working and preferred to either hide or ‘work’ in the evenings.   
Finally they had met Kate Law, a thin woman with a guarded look to her. Kate seemed perpetually close to tears even as she explained she was an ex-teacher and worked for Bea at the post office. Kate’s ice blue eyes shimmered even as she continued to talk and, slowly, relax. She had the same air of wounded beauty that much of the village held, although she had admitted she tended to frequent the one local pub, one designed for women who chose women. As Kate raised a hand to tuck her mid-length blonde hair back she had revealed tiny scars on her wrist, flushing the second she realized what she had done.   
It had been Danielle to put her at ease, promising they would not ask what happened and promising they would, between them, work with the village to keep her quite safe and well loved.   
Where the village had seemed on edge and closed off, it seemed that now they had promised not to spill secrets, doors across the village opened to them, many leading to women who may or may not be willing to have company.


	4. Entangled In Daily Life.

There were many attachments in village life, family, friends, neighbours... and in this case, lovers. Many of the women were unsure of themselves, didn’t know who or what to choose but slowly patterns emerged.   
Julie was still fairly isolated, as she always had been, although she had slowly begun to let her guard down a little, finding it easier just to let herself enjoy the company she had, even if she was still unsure what or who she wanted.   
Bea and Suzannah ended up in an almost relationship, nudged together with great care by Savannah, Willow and Kate.   
The rest of the village tended to pick and choose on any given day, some people found it easy, others difficult, although soon it was clear that none of them particularly knew how to settle down. Some desperately wanted to but had become so entangled in daily life in the village, and nightly love affairs, they were not quite sure how to step away.   
Slowly but surely they had grown used to life as it was, several couples forming until the final outposts of resistance to married or coupled life were the farm, Savannah and Willow, and Marian with her few helpers.   
As time went on things began to change. They still didn’t want a settled life, with only the one life, but they began to form little huddles, sometimes Savannah and Marian would find time alone, sometimes Danielle and Carina would find her way back into each-other’s arms, the way they had been before they came through time. Other times it would be Julie and Danielle, or one of the other farm girls. None of them chose to become a little group, but as time passed it was clear none of them could choose yet, and until they could, they would live as they were.   
Slowly but surely Danielle became aware of a bond forming between Savannah and Willow, although she still longed to be who Savannah chose, she didn’t fight it and instead tried to guide them into a relationship. Later she would see a bond forming between herself and Julie, although neither of them turned the other farm-girls away from them, they simply became a default couple within the household.   
The biggest surprise had been when Carina, finally, nervously, had dared to admit she was beginning to fall in love, deeply in love, with Marian. The bond had formed slowly, both women a little nervous, scared and unsure but willing to try...   
Although nothing in Danielle’s research before she came through the hole in time and ended up here had suggested this was what would and did happen, she was remarkably carefree when it came to the logistics.   
The need to hide would have been huge, and she wasn’t about to challenge people who so clearly loved one another, enough so that groups had become couples, and couples had become respected within the formation of the village.   
None of them was sure how to cope with the change and yet, even if Danielle was somehow sure it had been herself, Willow and Carina coming through the hole in time that had caused this to happen, they would never have changed it for the world.


	5. The War Is Over.

The end of the war had, surprisingly, come fairly soon after they had come here and yet Danielle was aware she had been lucky. None of them had been hurt, or killed, and although they may have broken time, or changed things, the only real change had been in herself.   
She was no longer looking for a way home, and she had been happy to find that despite coming back to the place she had lived in a new, or in this case old, time-period she had not messed time up enough to find herself or her friends wiped out of time itself. It seemed almost as if time had bent itself around her and her friends.   
It was not what she had wanted to happen, or what she had expected, and yet, when the chance came, with the arrival of her family in Bunbury, a family who didn’t seem to care that she may have been one of their own, to go home, she had not taken it. None of the three women had taken it. They had chosen to stay and continue their lives as families, couples and a village. They had been there long enough that they no longer missed home. Bunbury, Cheshire in wartime had become their home. For the rest of their natural lives.   
=


End file.
